For over 20 years, MB Crusher has offered a full line of innovative and patented jaw crusher and screener buckets and accessories for excavators, skid-steer loaders and backhoes of all sizes. Guy Woodford sat down with Alessia Valerio, MB's communications manager, at the recent 31st edition of SaMoTer in Verona to learn more about the company's latest developments and future growth plans
A passion for engineering innovation, savvy investment and strong family values have enabled MB Crusher (MB) to reach internationally recognised excellence. Founded and still owned by the Azzolin family and headquartered in Fara Vicentino, a town in the Vicenza province of northeast Italy, MB is established globally through its eight subsidiaries, a worldwide network of authorised dealers and service support, and logistic centres on different continents.
Alessia Valerio tells me that at its new 485,000sq ft. HQ, MB manages all phases of its operation, including manufacturing, research and development, and sales. A third manufacturing facility at MB's HQ is likely, says Alessia, due to strong customer demand. With its complete supply chain control, MB says it can ensure its products are of the highest Made in Italy quality.
Since the company's 2001 founding, MB's crusher buckets have spread the idea that the quality processing of inert job site material can create a valuable additional revenue stream.
Using crusher bucket attachments is said by MB to be the easiest solution for many companies now that construction equipment procurement is becoming more complex, expensive, and time-consuming. Alessia stresses that they also offer a practical solution when construction sites are located where heavy vehicles have difficulty reaching them due to a lack of connecting roads or are in historic areas with traffic restrictions. Crushing material on-site also avoids moving material from job sites to landfills, respects truck passage limitations imposed by municipalities, and demonstrates care for the environment by not polluting or exploiting its resources.
Depending on the site's requirements, the 12-strong range of 6.5-100-tonne-excavator-compatible MB crusher buckets transforms the stones into different sizes. An iron separator installed on the crusher bucket separates the iron portion. During operation, a nebuliser reduces the dust from the crushing. Due to its innovative design, MB crusher buckets can work without problems in closed environments, such as inside sheds and galleries and in urban and historical centres.
MB's screening buckets are designed to select natural materials like pebbles, slag heaps, sand and soils in pre- and post-crushing phases, reducing the crushing time by 60%.
MB grapples have a 360° rotation and a tilted coupler for a greater range of movement. The company says that all nine grapple models are so responsive that they enable precise selection; the closing graduation allows the handling of recyclable materials such as wood, and metal, separating portions destined for landfill or even controlled demolitions of masonry and urban areas buildings.
MB says its shaft screeners an excellent multi-purpose system that can process different kinds of material easily because you can quickly change the shafts directly on-site. They are extremely easy to use and can be simply maintained on-site. MB notes that its new shaft screener is also equipped with a hydraulic shock absorber to reduce shock when changing the direction of the shafts, so the engine, transmission system, and machinery are not damaged.
MB claims its drum cutters are the only ones globally utilising a direct-drive twin motor. The company's novel patent protects this direct transmission dual motor system, allowing for a differentiated force distribution on the two drums. This is said to provide an enormous advantage since the drum cutter manages the power force autonomously according to the toughness and resistance of the material.
During the latest edition of SaMoTer (3-7 May 2023), MB staged the global launch of its new MB-G400 and MB-G500 sorting grapples, and new MB-HDS307, MB-HDS312, and MB-HDS412 padding buckets.
Asked why MB is introducing the new grapples and padding buckets, Alessia says: "It is filling a gap in attachments for medium compact excavators. In Europe, especially, there is big growth in this area. You want to take a medium compact excavator to your work site rather than a large excavator as it is cheaper, and you want attachments that work best with a medium compact machine. With our attachments, you can crush, screen, and recycle on-site – a full materials processing operation without bringing in trucks to transport material by road for further processing. This is also good for sustainability.
"You can use one machine and change between our attachments for different jobs and material types while crushing and screening buckets and other attachment maintenance is done on-site. Respecting [client] deadlines is a huge necessity, and we help our customers do that by reducing production downtime. The current shortage of building materials is also increasing demand for attachments that can process materials on-site and meet customer delivery expectations."
Alessia says that MB's product range appeals to a broad range of construction, quarrying and building materials recycling customers. "You have companies that may, say, specialise in demolition, but on the side, they do some recycling and make aggregate products from that. You may want to separate topsoil from recovered materials; we have attachments that can do that. Our attachments are compatible with any on-site customer carrier."
MB has developed a crusher and screener bucket performance monitoring telematics solution currently only available to Italian customers. "Once perfectly tailored to the Italian market, we will introduce it more widely. A lot of Italian companies are using Industry 4.0. It is a big benefit to various industrial customers," explains Alessia.
A 250-plus employee company, MB has, says Alessia, worked hard over many years to build its global distribution setup, which is coordinated out of ten regional branch offices.
Turning her attention to the evolution of MB's manufacturing processes, she continues: "We opened our second manufacturing facility next to our existing HQ manufacturing site just before COVID [2019]. Our laser and welding robot machines were another key investment. A third manufacturing site will surely be needed in the future.
"We are always employing people. It is a good growth indicator. We are also always looking for ways to respond to market demands. MB never stops!"
